How to professionalize our rental property...

[Nehemias Ponce]

Hi there! My wife and I have a rental property that we would like to treat in a more professional and businesslike manner. Our property is in Tempe, AZ and we have been managing it for 5 years. The home is in our names and we have a loose organizational system that consists of receipts/bills in a bill planner (combined with those of our primary residence) and some files in a filing cabinet. We are now looking to treat this rental as more of a business and consequently update our organizational system. Here are some questions I have regarding this transition.

1. Are there any recognized bookkeeping/accounting practices we should learn about specifically related to owning/landlording real estate? For example, once this new system is in place I would like to be able to see at a glance what expenses the property incurred in say December of 2014.  

2. Can anyone suggest any software that would help? Specifically, something that might produce a report that a CPA or tax person would find useful? It might also be useful to have a tool that calculates amortization in the report as well.  

3. Should we put the home into a LLC? This question is undoubtedly too big and requires it's own post, but any general or basic advice would help immensely. This is our only property but we will be acquiring another within 6 months.

4. Does anyone have any filing systems that they find particularly useful for leases, contracts, etc...?

We also welcome any other general advice regarding how to better run this rental as a business. Thanks for any help you can provide it is much appreciated! 

-NehemiasP